Gunsmithing where would you go from here?

[kuchera89]

hi everybody, longtime listener first time caller.
okay so long story short.(i had originally wrote out the long version on how i got to this situation but decided to scrap it since nobody probably cares and it got kinda off topic.)

my budget is spent! and I dont have the rifle I want!

I currently have 700 aac-sd barreled action (.308, 1-10" twist, threaded barrel) that does not shoot better than a 2.5" group on a good day no matter what I try and believe me I've tried. if it grouped decent it would be exactly what i wanted. The barrel does not sit center in a stock, tried 3 different ones. off by 3mm or so at the end of the forend. I believe the receiver is out of true more than the average 700.

I also recently got a 700 in .308 with a 26" barrel. not threaded. 1-12 twist im assuming. dont know how well it shoots yet but atleast the barreled action is straight.


the things i plan to keep for the final rifle: ess chassis, vortex pst, timney, aac 51t break,aac sdn6 and harris bipod

i have the original hogue stock and a bell and carlson m40.

what would you do in this situation?
try to find the money to true the aac action after selling the other rifle?
rebarrel the 26" to keep and sell the aac for next to nothing cause i doubt many would want it?
lmk what yall think. I've been having nothing but bad luck out of the last few new firearms purchases and its kinda wearing me down.

 

[cast1]

Sell whichever one you can get sold and true and rebarrel the other.

 

[Mordamer]

If I were you I would sell one or both Remingtons and buy this if you want to stick to .308. https://shop.whittakerguns.com/product/ss-6662

I would use this opportunity to switch to 6.5 Creedmoor or .260 though.

People need to stop buying the crap guns that Remington is selling and maybe they will get the message.

 

[kuchera89]

sorry, been awhile since i got back to this with all this hurricane stuff going on.

so a 6.5 is in the future but for now im sticking it out with .308. and switching platforms isnt somthing i want to do either because i just got the chassis i wanted for the 700.

so i want to sell one and true and rebarrel the other. I've been researching trueing prices and they are all over the board. from $125 up into the $400+ im assuming there are certain parts being touched in one job and not the other. do they all include straightening the reciever threads?

 

[Red_SC]

No, they don't. I've seen people true actions by only facing the action and lapping the lugs together. Whoever does it, make sure you know what they consider 'truing'.

 

[supercorndogs]

I have been screwing Remage barrels into un-trued actions with great results. There are many different reasons your rifle could be shooting poorly. None of which are going to be cleared up by the truing process itself. It could be the barrel, or it could be the action is banana shaped, and causing a bedding problem, or it could be a base, ring, or scope problem.

 

[steve123]

^^^^ yep

I too suggest getting into 6.5 creed if you don't reload.

Anticipating your goals for the future and spending wisely now can save you a bunch of money in the long run. Personally I wouldn't dump a ton of money into a M700 action because by that time you could almost be into a custom action. That, coming from a guy who's go-to for 8 years was an all out M700 custom. But I bought it used with everything I wanted on it and the cartridge I wanted also and knew it would perform. I won long range championships with that rifle. Paid $1900 back then and wore out 4 barrels. Probably cost the first owner $3000 to begin with. Then being nice I sold it to a friend for $100 less than what I paid for it. See what I mean. But believe me I've been where you are at now more than once.

The recipe then is to sell everything and remortgage the house, JK, lol. No let's back up a bit. My advice is to sell both rifles, get a used Bighorn TL2 action "or used rifle" at a decent price and do a prefit barrel for now if need be.

0 percent CC is your friend and we all have garage sale items that are someone's jewel, hard to believe my ex and I made $700 back in the 90's selling a bunch of baby cloths and various other things I thought were worthless.

Think ahead

 

[flatland1]

I recently trued a M700 aac-sd action for a friend, and if it was typical of the actions with the aac-sd designation, I'd $hit-can that action of yours & keep the other one. I've trued several of the RR suffix actions, and the vast majority of them had minimal runout on the receiver face, pretty much the same on the lug seats, and threads true enough that I doubt they were worth screwing with. This sucker on the other hand, had over .006" runout on the face, the lug seats were off by a like amount. But the worst of it was - and I haven't figured this out yet - was that the threads were so hard that my carbide thread insert had trouble cutting them true. I even changed inserts to see if that helped, but it didn't. I don't know where the guy got this action, or what it'd been through, but I trued another one for him the next day that was a LA with magnum boltface, and my thread truing setup worked like a charm, with no issues. So I'm blaming that SA aac-sd for whatever the heck was up with the threads, and for having the worst runout I've yet seen in a RR numbered action.

 

[kuchera89]

so i took the aac into the local gunsmith, he said he would figure out what was causing the issue and contact remington to see if they had anything to say on it, we'll see i guess.

since it came up, its not the scope, rings or base. all have been swapped out multiple time(3 different set ups), taken on and off, torqued and retorqued.
I did put the scope and rings off the aac on the other rifle, unadjusted it placed rounds about 10-12 inches left of center. so the scope had been adjusted to comp for the barrel pointing right on the aac..

I do reload, but my setup is in boxes, been building my house for 2 years and moved in about 8 months ago but the house is far from finished and have to get a few other things done before I can finish the reloading room.

At this point guys I appreciate the input, Im considering multiple options, selling both for a decent chunk out of a custom barreled action is one option but most likely unnecessary as I dont shoot competitively but i might get it anyway. The other is like flatland mentioned and canning the aac and rebarreling the other 700 with a krieger or similar which should alone produce the <1" I'm going for.

 

[Mr.Kirk]

Ptg has their trued actions on sale for what you will spend having that crooked one worked on. Or sell the whole mess and buy their stiller's action for $800 also on sale at pacific tool and guage. You won't even have to wait on the stillers.

 

[fdkay]

While I would have a tough time recommending a Remington to anyone right now (both the Howa and Tikka are superior), I understand where the OP is coming from.
The 1-10" AAC/SD models never seemed to shoot as well as the 1-12 twist tacticals.
I would test fire the varmint model you bought and ditch the aac-sd model if the varmint shoots good.
Sell the AAC and use the money to polish up the other turd.
many folks say that it isn't worth truing the action and rechambering a factory barrel, but many well regarded gunsmiths have offered the package in the past (Tac-ops and SAC to name two).
If the barrel seems like a shooter, have it shortened to whatever length you like, the action trued, replace the crappy trigger and recoil lug and shoot to your hearts content.
All of that should be available for what you sell the crappy rifle for. (Your smith MIGHT take the action for trade for the work).
Nothing wrong with the .308. There are better long range calibers, but it remains a very good cartridge.

 

[kuchera89]

well guys, I think it pretty well worked out. last monday i got a call from the gun smith and they informed me my brand new rifle was here! remington warrantied the barrel and action! I was out of town for hurricane clean up so i couldnt go pick it up until monday, but i also had to replace my wifes water pump on her truck so that ruined me getting to shoot. put it in the chassis, swapped the trigger and mounted up the scope and suppressor. I was able to make up some loads last night with 180grn sst and 39.8 grn r-15 and just got to shoot as the sun went down. if you minus the shot i pulled, I managed a solid 3/4" 4 shot group off a plastic picnic table so I actually believe me and the rifle can do better in more favorable conditions.

 

[kuchera89]

[No message]